HomeFoodPreservation.docVIP

Introduction to Home Food Preservation Prepared by: Angela M. Fraser, Ph.D. Associate Professor/Food Safety Education Specialist NC State University  One of the greatest challenges faced by man has been maintaining a consistent and safe food supply. Over the years, people faced starvation in seasons with poor yields only to have excess harvest go to waste in more productive seasons. This problem led to the adage feast or famine. Man quickly learned that drying, salting, or fermenting foods would extend the length of time that foods could be eaten. Still, these measures were only partially successful in that they did not prevent other spoilage mechanisms ( rodents, insects, microbial growth, and chemical reactions. Today, the most common way to preserve food is canning. The process of canning food was developed about 150 years ago. In the late 1790s, the problem of food preservation became so serious to the French people that Napoleon offered a reward to anyone who invented a new and more reliable method of preserving food. Nicolas Appert, a French confectioner, answered the challenge. After 14 years of trial and error, he developed a process he called Appertizing. Fruits, vegetables, fish, or meat was sealed in stoppered bottles and the filled bottles were immersed in boiling water; the heat sterilized the bottles and food alike. Appert knew nothing of enzymes or bacteria, nor did anyone else in his day. He did observe that when food was heated in the sealed bottles, the food remained good as long as the seal was not broken. The food remained edible until the bottles were opened. The process won him his prize in 1809; he started a canning factory and went on to found a family-canning dynasty that continued into the 20th century. Several problems associated with Appert’s process led to the refinement of his process. Apperts bottles were expensive, heavy and fragile; their airtight seals were uncertain. By 1810 others had produced more reliable con